Scoble on public speaking: "Now that I've given a bunch of speeches...I'm learning that the real skill a speaker needs is listening. Can you take a question during a talk and turn that into something useful?"
I think he's onto something. I try to make my talks as interactive as possible, to react to the audience's interests and knowledge and gaps in knowledge. So I have moved away from the format of talking for most of my time and then taking a question or two, and try set up my subject matter and then take questions, to which I give detailed answers. I still give a talk, but it's more like 15 minutes and then 15 minutes of questions, rather than a 25 minute lecture and a couple of hands in the air.
It probably doesn't work for every subject, and it requires the speaker to be flexible, knowledgeable on the topic, and willing to say "I don't know," but it's a lot more fun for me, and the people to whom I speak seem to like it.
My advice to speakers who are nervous -- apparently, a lot of people -- is this: remember that the audience wants you to succeed. They would rather that you be good than boring. When you pause, or get stuck on a thought, it seems at the podium to last an eternity, but it's quick for people in the crowd. Relax. Think. Personalize. Have fun.
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